Voter turnout was 99.9 per cent.
With 234 eligible voters at Student Vote at Diefenbaker elementary – all the students in Grades 4 to 7 - only two didn’t make it to the polls.
The results from Friday’s Student Vote, about who students would elect as the next member of Parliament for Richmond Centre, will be available after the adults’ election this coming Monday.
On Friday morning, to kick off the voting process, the Grade 6 class in charge took an oath of secrecy and at 9 a.m. a bell rang out, officially opening the Student Vote polling station. Students all got into position in their respective roles, from scrutineers to security guards.
Diefenbaker is just one school out of 9,500 across Canada taking part in Student Vote. More than one million elementary and secondary students were expected to cast a ballot in a process created by an educational organization called Civix, in cooperation with Elections Canada.
Grade 7 student Patrick Higgs Torre voted for the Green party candidate, Francoise Raunet, because he felt her delivery was good at the all-candidates meeting held the week before at Diefenbaker elementary.
“She knew what she was going to say before she said it,” Patrick said.
Leia Arad preferred not to reveal who she voted for, but she felt taking part in Student Vote helped her gather information about the candidates, especially when they came to the all-candidates meeting.
“(Student Vote) gives me a voice like I matter even though it’s not the real thing,” she said.
For Allan Yin, he appreciated the teachers taking time to teach them about elections, because he feels other adults don’t think kids understand what is happening.
“Teachers feel, after we turn 18, we should vote,” he said, adding that Student Vote gave him insight into the election.
“I think this process will help kids have a better understanding of the bigger world – the election,” he added.
Andy Liu didn’t feel there was enough information about the election outside of school and would have liked to have seen more posters and signs.
The federal election takes place on Monday, Oct 21.
